230 - The Spiritual Life in the Millennium [B]

The Spiritual Life in the Millennium. Revelation 20:1 - 6, Isaiah 11:9

Leviticus 23:15-18 ^NASB "You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete sabbaths. [16] You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh sabbath; then you shall present a new grain offering to the LORD. [17] You shall bring in from your dwelling places two {loaves} of bread for a wave offering, made of two-tenths {of an} {ephah;} they shall be of a fine flour, baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. [18] Along with the bread you shall present seven one year old male lambs without defect, and a bull of the herd and two rams; they are to be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the LORD."

The Feast of Weeks is one of the three major pilgrimage feasts, according to Deuteronomy 16:16, and the picture is of two loaves coming, the firstfruits [Israel as the firstfruits to God] is also used in the New Testament to the church and also a term which refers to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ rose from the dead three days after the crucifixion and then forty days later He ascended into heaven. He told the disciples to wait there in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit. They waited there for the next days and then on Pentecost the Holy Spirit came. That is referred to in the New Testament as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the church age the baptism of the Holy Spirit refers to the fact that God has taken Jews and Gentiles and brought them together as one in the body of Christ. The usual interpretation of the two loaves is that one represents Jews and one represents Gentiles and then they are brought together as one. This is fulfilled on the day of Pentecost with the baptism of the Holy Spirit. That doesn't wipe out ethnic identity but it indicates that in the church there is not something specific related to ethnicity, especially of being Jewish as in the Old Testament where only a male Jew could go into the tabernacle and later the temple in order to worship. In the church age in the body of Christ every believer has immediate access to God.

This is going to change again in the future. After the Tribulation is over when we get into the Millennial period then again the emphasis goes back to Israel, and Israel's worship becomes the central focal point for worldwide worship. We have seen that Israel would have a future kingdom that would be ruled by a descendant of David according to the covenant that God made with David in 2 Samuel 7. Focusing on the nature of the Millennial kingdom we have seen that all nations will come to Israel in order to worship, and this is seen specifically in Isaiah chapter two, where there will be a future temple in Jerusalem. During the church age there is an emphasis on what God is doing through the church—all those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior. After the Rapture of the church and the Tribulation there is a return focus as God fulfills the prophecies He made to Israel to establish a kingdom that is ruled by "David the prince."

There are three key people to keep in mind when we are looking at the Millennial government. There is the Messiah who is the overall ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Then under Him is the resurrected David the prince who also rules over Israel. Then as we will see in Ezekiel 40-48 there is a human prince who is a descendant of David who is a human ruler born during the period of the Millennial kingdom and he is a ruler over Jerusalem. The temple is rebuilt as the center of the nation.

The first part of Ezekiel 37 is really a picture of God bringing the nation Israel back together. It depicts how God is going to restore the Jews to the land of Israel that He has given them. We get God's interpretation of the vision that He gave to Ezekiel: Ezekiel 37:11 ^NASB "Then He said to me, 'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.'" This is depicting a time in the future when Israel will completely despair of any future or hope. [12] "Therefore prophesy and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.'" So there is a promise of God of a national restoration and a resurrection of Jewish saints to reestablish them in the land of Israel. [13] "Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people. [14] I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it,' declares the LORD." This passage refers to a corporate or national regeneration as od is going to give a special dispensation or manifestation of the Holy Spirit to the nation Israel. This is what is foundational in the New covenant. The New covenant focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the nation.

Bringing them into their own land is partly what we are seeing today. It is not an ultimate fulfillment in terms of a regenerate nation, which does not occur until the end of the Tribulation. Ezekiel 37:22 ^NASB "and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. [23] "They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their God."

The promise of the restoration. Ezekiel 37:24 ^NASB "My servant David will be king over them…" Some people think this is a reference to the Messiah as the son of David, but David is mentioned too many times in different passages as David the prince or the ruler over the people, so this is the resurrected David ruling over Israel under the Lord Jesus Christ. "… and they will all have one shepherd; and they will walk in My ordinances and keep My statutes and observe them. [25] They will live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant [Abrahamic covenant], in which your fathers lived; and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons' sons, forever; and David My servant will be their prince forever." This has never happened in history. [26] "I will make a covenant of peace with them [New covenant]; it will be an everlasting covenant with them…" This is an everlasting covenant in contrast to the Mosaic covenant which was temporary.  "… And I will place them and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in their midst forever." That is a reference to a future temple. [27] "My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people." That is yet future. In these verses the ocus is on that future covenant that occurs at the second coming of Christ when He establishes the kingdom, and then He will also establish His sanctuary, the third temple (The first was Solomon's, the second was started by Zerubbabel and finally finished in 516 BC) There will be another temple built during the Tribulation period, Revelation 11:1, 2 which will be an apostate temple. [28] "And the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever."

The next two chapters in Ezekiel describe an invasion that occurs in Israel and takes place some time in the future. Some put it before the Tribulation, some put it in the first half of the Tribulation, and some put it early in the second half as a prelude to the campaign of Armageddon. Following this invasion there is the restoration of the nation to the land.

Jerusalem is the location of the future temple that is described in Ezekiel 40-48. Jerusalem is at the very heart of the whole history of Israel from the time that David conquered it. In fact, we can go back to Genesis 14 where the five kings invaded the Middle East under Chedorlaomer and Abraham gave tithes to Melchizedek king of Salem (the old name for Jerusalem). 

In Daniel 9:25 we are told that it is the decree to go back to Jerusalem after the exile to rebuild the cities begins the countdown for that time period that is decreed for Israel (490 years or Daniel's seventy weeks). The last week of that period gets separated out. There is the prophecy that at the end of the 49 weeks (483 years) the Messiah will be cut off, and that fits the time period when Jesus appeared as the Messiah and was crucified. Then there is a time gap between the 69^th week and the 70^th week, and that is the intervening age in which we are living now. The 70^th week relates to the future time of the Tribulation. But during this time Jerusalem is the focal point, it is the national heart of Israel and the focal point of numerous prophecies. Joel 2:32; 3:1-3 is the focus on what happens at the very end of the Tribulation period when Israel calls upon the Messiah to deliver them. What is being focused on here is that there is a future for Jerusalem, and we have to understand this, especially today with all of the arguments that are going on in relationship to Jerusalem. Joel 3:1 is the same restoration that Ezekiel talks about in chapters 37 and 39.

Joel 3:17 ^NASB "Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers [Gentile powers] will pass through it no more." This occurs in the Messianic kingdom. [20] "But Judah will be inhabited forever And Jerusalem for all generations."

Zechariah 8:3 ^NASB "Thus says the LORD, 'I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem…" That is the dwelling of God in the future Messianic temple, Ezekiel 40-48. "… Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts {will be called} the Holy Mountain. [8] and I will bring them {back} and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.'" There are many more verses that emphasize God's promise to bring Israel back to the land, restoring them to the land in the future. But it is not all peaceful, Prior to that establishment of the temple God warns in Zechariah 12:2, "Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. [3] It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." This pictures that future assault on Jerusalem and all of the things that are going on now simply foreshadow that. It is not until the Messiah comes and restores the Jews to the land completely and establishes His kingdom that we see a unified Jerusalem at peace.